We just caught the end of PokerStars Team Online Isaac Haxton's double up. Haxton was all in with versus Timothy Adams' on a board. The river brought the and Haxton doubled up. After being down to 40,000 chips earlier Haxton is doing quite alright now.
The flop read when Dani Stern check-called 13,000 from Igor Kurganov. On the turn the hit and both players checked. The river brought the and the action was checked again. Kurganov showed and Stern took down the pot with .
Mikhail Smirnov is back in the hunt after he decided to rebuy. Smirnov is already up a bit from his fresh 250,000-chip starting stack but also managed to lose a pot to Faraz Jaka.
Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier raised to 4,000 and both blinds called. The flop brought out and all three players checked. On the turn the hit and Smirnov checked to Philipp Gruissem who bet 7,000 and only Mercier called. On the river the hit and Gruissem won the pot with a 17,000-chip bet.
A few hands later Gruissem raised to 4,500 from the button and Dan Smith three-bet to 16,000 from the small blind. Gruissem four-bet to 38,000 and Smith tank-folded.
Marvin Rettenmaier is also playing this event and he just received a compliment from Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu pointed out that Rettenmaier is playing at a much higher pace than last year and the German pro responded as following.
"Yeah, but I've also been winning a lot less."
The players at the table had a good laugh while Negreanu managed to steal Rettenmaier's big blind.
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Maybe only Viktor Blom could've found value in the hand he played out with Sergii Baranov and Justin Bonomo.
The latter opened to 4,500 from the hijack and was called by Baranov in the next seat before Blom squeezed to 16,500 from the button. Both players made a quick call to see the flop where Blom continued for 18,600. Both players called before all three went on to check the turn and river through.
With 27,600 in the middle on the flop, Mike Watson checked to his opponent, Fabian Quoss. Quoss tossed out a red T25,000 chip, but it was unknown if he verbally bet a different amount or fired the entire 25,000. Watson check-raised to 51,000, and Quoss tanked for a bit before moving all in for around 200,000. Watson called.
Watson had flopped middle set with the — the second time he has flopped a set of eights today that we have witnessed. Quoss had him beat, though, with the for a flopped ten-high straight.
The turn was the , keeping Quoss in front with his straight. The river delivered a card in favor of Watson, though, when the dealer finished off the board with the . Watson had more chips than Quoss, meaning Quoss was eliminated.
After being eliminated, Quoss sought out the tournament director and asked if he had to re-enter right away or if he could wait. Quoss was informed he could re-enter anytime up until the start of play on Day 2, and then he left the building. We'll let you know if he returns.
Watson moved to 610,000 in chips, and has had some success in big events like this one before. At the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, Watson won the €50,000 Majestic High Roller for €1,000,000. Prior to that, he took third in the €50,000 Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona that Dan Smith won to kick off this season. For that finish, Watson scored €399,500.